Printing machine folder



Jan. 5, 1960 C. A. HARLESS PRINTING MACHINE FOLDER Filed 00T.. 8, 1956 f MF i( 4 wils l I 1 l l IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHllllllllf| 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 "l www..

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Jax-n.5, 1960 c. A. HARLEss PRINTING MACHINE FOLDER Filed Oct. 8, 1956 the invention will then be nited States Patent l 2,919,914 y PRrN'rnsGMAcHiNE FOLDER A`Charles' A. Harless, Riverside, Conn., assigner to R. Hoe gz( Cltii., Inc., New York, N.Y a corporation of New This invention relates to printing machine folders and, more particularly, to so-called 3 to 2 folders, or folders in which a collecting cylinder is arranged to carry three papers around its periphery, and a folding blade carrier having only two blades rotates eccentrically inside the collecting cylinder. g

It is an object of the invention to provide means for angular adjustment of the folding blade Acarrier so as to correct the fold.

Another object is to provide for silencing a folding blade for collecting purposes. i

A further object is to provide for adjustment of the associated fold roller creaser bars and fan delivery wheel simultaneously with adjustment of the folding blade carner.

A folder mechanism embodying the invention in a to the accompanying drawing, and the 'features forming pointed out in the appended claims. l f 1 In the drawings: Fig. l is a longitudinal section generally on a central vpreferred form will now first be describedwith reference vertical line of Fig; 2; Fig. ylV-A being al continuation thereof;

Fig. 2 is a schematic end elevation; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view, corresponding to part of Fig. 1, showing a modification providing for silencing a folding blade. l i

Referring now to Figs. l and2, the folding cylinder comprises an outer or collecting cylinderjindicated generally at 10 and within which the folding blade carrier 11 is mounted. These elements are supported in the frames 12, 13 by means of blocks 14, 15 bolted thereto, as indicated in Fig. l. The outer cylinder 10 comprises a hollow b-ody 16 and annular end parts 17, 18 and is rotatively supported on the blocks 14, 15 by anti-friction bearings 19, 20, for rotation about ,anl axis A. Cylinder 10 is driven through a gear 21, fixed to the end member 18, and cooperates with a cutting cylinder 22 by which the sheets are cut. Cylinder 10 has journaled in it, three pin shafts 23 carrying operating levers 24 which operate the pins ,25 in the usual mannerA and intimedrelation to the rotation of the parts. Each shaft 23 is rocked in timed relation to the other parts by means of a crank 26 carrying a pair of follower rollers 27 which cooperate with inner and outer cams 28, 29 formed on the cam ring 30 which is rotatably carried on block 14 and driven through a gear 31 by a gear 32 carried by the cutting cylinder previously mentioned. These parts are arranged for operating the pins 25 to take and release the sheets in the conventional, known manner.

The element 11 comprises a shaft 33 with end discs 34, 35 and the folding blade assemblies 36 are journaled atented Jan. 5, 1.9

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39. At its otherend,` the member. 33-.-35 is secured to a'housing 40 which is rotatably mounted in the block 14, by means of anti-friction bearing 41, again'concentric with the shaft' 33. Within this housing is a stationary sun gear 42 supported in block 14 by Ymeans of fixed shaft 43, and planet pinions 44 carried by the shafts of the folding blade assemblies 36 and drivenY olf the sun gear 42 through idler pinions 4S. The planet pinions 44 and sun gear have a ratio of 1-3 and the idlers 45 are interposed to obtain the correct direction of rotation of the folding blade assemblies 36.

The mechanism associated with the cylinder 10, 11 comprises (Fig. 2) a pair of folding rollers 50 having cooperating creaser bars 51y and va fan Ydelivery 52 having pockets as indicated, together with appropriate gearing. This gearing so far as the coupling of the elements 50 and 52 together is concerned is conventional, but means is provided for adjustment of the regular position of these elements along with adjustment of the relative angular position of elements 10, 11. l

Referring again to Fig. 1, the main drive gear is indicated at 55 and through meshing gear 56 drives a shaft 57 rotatably mounted in bearings 58, which are supported in the frame 13 in abracket 59 attached to that frame. This shaft 57 carries gear' 60 meshing` with and driving the gear 21 previously referred to', and gear 61 meshing with and driving the gear 62 which is attached to the shaft 37 driving the inner member. As shown in Fig. l-A, means is provided for shifting theishaft 157 axially, together with all the gearsrnounted thereon, and may comprise a hand wheel 65 vand screw 66 carried in a housing 67 attached to the frame 13 and coupled to the shaft 57 by means of anti-friction thrust bearing 68. 4The variousgears are helical,l asindicated, gears 56 and 60 being of the same hand and gear 61 of the opposite hand. The effect of an axial adjustment of shaft 57 will be to adjust the relation between elements 10 and 11 in the following manner: Assuming the gear 55 is held stationary, a movement of the shaft 57 inward (to the left in Fig. l), will rotatev it and the gears on vit slightly, by reason of the engagement of the helical teeth on gears 55 and 56. This movement beingclockwise as viewed-from the hand wheel 65. The axial movement of gear 60, combined with this rotation, cancel out the rotation caused by the movement of gear 56, so far asgear pair 60, 21 is concerned. However, the effect is additive so far as gear pair 61, 62 is concerned, so that the net effect of the adjustment is to impart an Yangular movement to inner member 11 with respect to outer member 10, thus adjusting the timing of the folding blade. A movement of shaft`57 in the outward direction will also produce an adjustment, but in the opposite direction.

The drive for folding rollers 50 is taken olf gear 61 through gear 70 meshing with the gear 61 previously ref ferred to and carried on a shaft 71,'which, in turn, carries creaser bars 51 for cooperation with folding blades 36.

in these discs by means of anti-friction bearings, as in- 'I'he delivery fan 52 is carried on a shaft 75, which is driven off shaft 71, previously referred to, by means of gear 76 carried on the shaft 71 and idler intermediate gear 77 into gear 78, so that the angular position of the fan wheel pockets is also adjusted along with the folding blades and rollers.

In the modification-shown in Fig. 3, means is provided for silencing one of the folding blades 36 (the upper one in Fig. l). In Fig. 3, parts correspondnig to similar parts already discussed in connection with Fig. 1 carry similar reference numerals with a prime superscript, and the description of these parts will not be repeated except Where necessary for an understanding of the modification.

As shown in Fig. 3, the sun gear 42 is replaced by two sun .gears 42 and 42, the position of the pinions being shifted so that one idler pinion 45' and associated folding blade pinion 44 (the upper elements of Fig. 3) cooperate with the inner sun gear 42", while the other elements 45, 44 (the lower) cooperate with the outer sun gear 42. Sun gear 42 is fixedly mounted on the shaft 43', while the inner sun gear 42" is rotatably carried on this shaft by means of anti-friction bearing 80. Shaft 43 is hollow and contains a rotatable and axially slidable shaft 81 at the inner end of which is mounted a plate 82 in which a number of coupling pins 83 are secured. In the position of the figure, these pins extend through bores -in the sun gear 42" and into bores in the sun gear 42', coupling these gears together and holding gear 42 stationary, so that the action is the same as that in Fig. l previously described. If shaft 8l is pushed inwardly, however, the coupling pins 83 will come out of the bores in sun gear 42', uncoupling the sun gear 42", and will enter bores 84 in the end disc 34', coupling the sun gear 42 to this element for rotation therewith. In this way, one

of the folding blade assemblies 36 (the upper one in Fig. 3) may be silenced, holding the folding blades in a fixed inactive position with relation to the inner assembly 1l. The inner shaft 81 may be pushed in and out by means of knob 85 and held in position by a latch 86 entering a groove 87 for holding this shaft 8l in its inner or silencing position, or a similar groove (obscured by the latch 86 in the gure) for holding the shaft 8l; in the position of Fig. 3.

The position of the fold made by a folder of the type herein shown is affected to some extent by the number of pages in the product and by the speed at which the machine is being operated, so it will be seen that in order to obtain accuracy of the fold, provision must be made to adjust the timing of the folding blade carrier and the folding rollers and delivery fan relatively to the cutting and collecting cylinders. As herein shown the required adjustment may be made while the machine is running, merely by turning the hand wheel 65. Thus great accuracy of fold is easily obtained without delays that otherwise might be caused by stopping the machine repeatedly for each adjustment.

What is claimed is:

`1. In a printing machine folder mechanism comprising a collecting cylinder, folding rollers associated therewith and an eccentrically mounted folding blade carrier rotatable therein, the combination with the folding blade carrier and cylinder of gearing coupling the same together ina normally lfixed but adjustable relationshipand also gearing driving the folding rollers and including a helical driven gear meshing with a helical driving gear carried by the said shaft, whereby the folding roller angular position is adjusted simultaneously with the folding blade carrier.

3. The combination according to claim 2, in which the said helical driven gear meshes with the said gear which meshes with the gear fixed to the carrier.

4. In a printing machine folder mechanism comprising a collecting cylinder, folding rollers associated therewith an an eccentrically mounted folding blade carrier rotatable therein, the combination with the cylinder and folding blade carrier of gearing coupling the same together in a normally fixed but adjustable relationship and including helical gears of opposite hand concentric with and fixed respectively to cylinder and carrier, a rotatable and slidable shaft, gears of corresponding opposite hands carried by said shaft and meshing with the first said gears, a helical drive gear carried by the said shaft and of the same lhand as the gear meshing with the folding blade carrier gear, a helical gear driving the said driven gear, and means for axially adjusting the position of said shaft and gears carried thereby, whereby the angular relation between the said cylinder and carrier is adjusted.

5. The combination according to claim 4, comprising also a further helical gear, in mesh with the gear which drives the folding blade carrier gear, and driving the folding rollers, whereby the folding roller angular position is adjusted simultaneously with the folding blade carrier.

6. In a printing machine folder mechanism comprising a collecting cylinder, an eccentrically mounted folding blade carrier rotatable therein and folding rollers having creaser bar s associated therewith, and in combination, means for driving the collecting cylinder and means for driving the remaining elements of the Ysaid mechanism in timed relation to each other, adjustable drive mechanism coupling the two said driving means together in adjustably timed relation and means for adjusting the said adjustable drive mechanism to vary the timing of the folding blade carrier and the folding rollers, relatively to the collecting cylinder, While the machine is running.

7. Printing machine folding mechanism according to claim 6, vcomprising also a rotary delivery member driven by the means driving the blade carrier and folding rollers and in timed relation thereto, whereby the timing of the said delivery member relative to the collecting cylinder is also varied while the machine is running, when the adjustable drive mechanism is adjusted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,900,288 lordhoy Mar. 7, 1933 2,026,443 Tomlin g Dec. 31, 1935 2,093,233 Dean Sept. 14, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 168,632 Great Britain Sept. 6, 1921 

